A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced the Securing Enforcement of Americans' Right to Competition at Home (SEARCH) Act on Thursday, July 23rd, 2026. The bill would prohibit dominant search engines from using certain default distribution agreements or favoring their own services over competitors in search results. Companies that violate these provisions could face antitrust enforcement, including civil penalties and court-ordered behavior changes.

The legislation follows a regulatory trend seen in both the Biden and Trump administrations, which have scrutinized Google's search engine and business practices in efforts to label the company a monopoly and justify government intervention. Earlier this week, the European Union fined Google $1 billion for "illegally undercutting competition through its dominance as a search engine," according to The New York Times.

Senators Amy Klobuchar (D–Minn.) and Eric Schmitt (R–Mo.) emphasized the bill's goals in a joint press release. Klobuchar stated the bill would "put the guardrails in place that both the Biden and Trump Administrations have said are necessary to bring competition to online search," while Schmitt said it would "protect one of the key tenets of modern American society: free speech online."

However, critics argue the bill goes beyond traditional antitrust enforcement or First Amendment protections by using government power to redesign products that consumers voluntarily use billions of times daily. Google’s integration of its own services into its search engine is seen by some as a natural consumer expectation for seamless, useful results, rather than an unfair practice.

The emergence of generative AI has also influenced the regulatory landscape surrounding search engines, complicating efforts to impose new rules.

Sources